Close To Holmes

by Alistair Duncan

  Inevitably his word was taken seriously by later researchers and most biographies that followed repeated the Devonshire Place address. Unfortunately the more it was repeated the more accepted it became. Richard Lancelyn Green’s booklet on the subject states that in June 1950 the first attempts were made to get a plaque erected at 2 Devonshire Place to commemorate Conan Doyle’s time there and the fact that the earliest Sherlock Holmes short stories were written there.

  These requests were refused on the grounds that Conan Doyle had not actually lived at the address or spent considerable time working there. Further requests were made in the years that followed but over a decade later there had been no success. However there was success elsewhere. Conan Doyle’s former house at 12 Tennison Road, South Norwood received a blue plaque in 19737 (see later).

  A few further attempts were made to get a plaque erected at the Devonshire Place address but it was not until July 7th 1980, the fiftieth anniversary of Conan Doyle’s death, that the lack of a plaque was brought to the fore by The Daily Telegraph. Nine years later the Arthur Conan Doyle Society was founded and four years after this the society decided to sponsor the erection of the long awaited plaque. During the process the information about the correct Upper Wimpole Street address came to light and in 1994 the plaque was finally erected in the proper place.

  Queen Anne Street connects Harley Street with Wimpole Street and was a street which many medical practices over spilled into. Doctor Watson describes himself as being resident here in 1902 during the events described in The Illustrious Client.

  Queen Anne Street (heading west) as seen from Harley Street (2008)

  One of the many debates amongst Sherlockian scholars is the reason for Watson moving here and away from Baker Street. The two prevailing theories are that Watson had either married again or that he had been forced back to work due to his gambling debts8. The ammunition for the latter argument comes from Shoscombe Old Place in which Watson refers to spending half his wound pension on racing and The Dancing Men in which Holmes refers to Watson’s cheque book being locked away in his own drawer. To the present author the marriage theory is more plausible as Watson’s marriage is referred to in The Blanched Soldier which was written two years after The Illustrious Client.

  This is a wider view of Upper Wimpole Street. Number 2 is the second door from the right (2008)

  The Langham Hotel, which is a walk of a few minutes from Queen Anne Street, can make four immediate claims on the interest of the Sherlock Holmes or Conan Doyle enthusiast. On August 30th 1889 Conan Doyle attended a dinner at the hotel at the invitation of J. M. Stoddart, the editor of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Among the other guests at this dinner was none less than Oscar Wilde. Conan Doyle himself regarded it as a ‘golden evening’ and by the end of the dinner he had been commissioned by Stoddart to write what became his second Sherlock Holmes story The Sign of Four (1890). Wilde also received a commission and subsequently wrote his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray which was published in the same year as Conan Doyle’s novel.

  The memory of the evening was certainly still in Conan Doyle’s mind when he wrote the early part of his story as Captain Morstan, the father of Holmes’s client Mary Morstan, is described as staying at the Langham ten years prior to the events of the story. The final two references to the hotel are made in A Scandal in Bohemia and The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax. In the former the King of Bohemia stays at the Langham under an assumed name and in the latter the hotel is used by the Honourable Philip Green during his London stay.

  The hotel was opened by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in 1865 having been built over the course of the previous two years. It cost a significant £300,000 to build and, at the time it opened, was the most modern hotel of the time. One of its claims to fame was that it was the first hotel in England to have hydraulic lifts. In addition it was one of the earliest to make use of electricity having its porch lit by this method as early as 1879. In 1870 an American called James Sanderson was appointed General Manager and under his stewardship the hotel began to attract a large American clientele. Among the most notable of these was the author Mark Twain. It is therefore not surprising that Stoddart chose this hotel at which to hold his dinner with Conan Doyle and Wilde.

  The King of Bohemia visits Holmes and Watson. Of all the characters that Conan Doyle had stay at the Langham the King was the most illustrious.

  The hotel also attracted famous people from other countries. In addition to Conan Doyle and Wilde it attracted the custom of Napoleon III (who spent much of his enforced exile from France at the hotel9) and, in later years, Noel Coward.

  Conan Doyle’s repeated use of the Langham Hotel does raise an interesting question. Why was he content to name this hotel when he was so reticent about naming others? In later stories such as The Blue Carbuncle, The Noble Bachelor and The Hound of the Baskervilles he referred to hotels but always did so ambiguously either avoiding the mention of a name at all or providing a false one. We shall revisit this question and some possible explanations in our look at the hotels on Northumberland Avenue.

  During the Second World War the Langham was closed to the public due to bomb damage although it was used by the BBC for staff and guests. In 1965 the BBC bought the Langham outright and some of its radio broadcasts were performed from the building.

  However the BBC did not retain ownership of the Langham. It was sold in 1986, with the blessing of English Heritage, and a massive refurbishment project was started with the aim of making it a working hotel once more. In 1991 this was completed (at a cost of £100 million) and the hotel reopened. It immediately returned to its old habit of attracting royalty and the rich and famous and is now the flagship hotel of Langham Hotels International.

  The Langham Hotel (2008)

  Woodcut of the Langham Hotel c1880

  6 Source: The booklet Conan Doyle of Wimpole Street by Richard Lancelyn Green.

  7 Source: English Heritage.

  8 Source: A Sherlock Holmes Commentary by D. Martin Dakin

  9 Source: Langham Hotel Website.

  Regent Street to Pall Mall

  Regent Street is one of London’s premier retail streets. It was named after the then Prince Regent (later King George IV) and was designed by John Nash (1752 – 1835). It begins just south of Langham Place, the site of the Langham Hotel and All Souls Church (also designed by Nash). It crosses over Oxford Street and continues south towards Piccadilly where it crosses over Piccadilly Circus finally terminating when it connects to Pall Mall.

  Regent Street c1880

  As the fan of Sherlock Holmes will know it is down this street that Holmes and Watson follow a cab as it tails Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr Mortimer on their way back to the Northumberland Hotel after their visit to Holmes in Baker Street. This scene was one of many illustrated by Sidney Paget and it has its own interesting story. According to Baker Street By-Ways by James Edward Holroyd, the illustration has always been printed the wrong way round in English editions of the story.

  Holmes and Watson are spotted as they follow the cab carrying Stapleton down Regent Street in The Hound of the Baskervilles – The illustration is shown here the correct way round.

  There are a number of indications that this is indeed the case. If you look at the illustration as printed in any English edition it is plain to see that Watson’s morning-coat is buttoned right over left when it should be the opposite. Holroyd’s suggested explanation for this is that the image was destined to appear on an even numbered page when printed and the convention was to have characters facing inwards towards the spine. Regardless of which way round the picture is shown it is rather curious to note that Holmes and Watson are ahead of the cab they are supposed to be tailing. No doubt this was done to ensure their prominence in the illustration.

  However this is not the only connection that Regent Street and some of the neighbouring streets have with the Great Detective. Conduit Street connects with Regent Street just south of O
xford Circus. It is an unremarkable road but its claim to fame from a Sherlockian perspective is that it was home to the man described by Holmes as the second most dangerous man in London – Colonel Sebastian Moran10.

  Slightly further down Regent Street we find the site of the former Café Royal. This restaurant, sadly shut down in December 2008 after one hundred and fifty years, was the favourite establishment of the literary set in the late nineteenth century with Oscar Wilde as one of its most famous patrons11. For the Sherlockian the connection lies in the adventure The Illustrious Client where it is outside the Café that Holmes is assaulted by thugs in the pay of Baron Gruner. After carrying out their task they escape through the café into Glasshouse Street which lies behind.

  Regent Street (2008)

  John Nash – designer of Regent Street

  Conduit Street, home to Colonel Moran (2008)

  The Café Royal, a few months before its closure (2008)

  Glasshouse Street – Holmes’s attackers escaped down this road in The Illustrious Client (2008)

  A couple of minutes further down Regent Street bring you to Piccadilly Circus where we find a pivotal location in the Sherlock Holmes stories – the Criterion.

  The Criterion Theatre and Restaurant are built on the site formerly occupied by an Inn called the White Bear. This was a well regarded coaching inn and thrived during the 18th century but the passing of the coaching era led to it being demolished in 187012. The lease for the site was granted to the wine merchants Spiers & Pond and they organised a competition to find an architect to design a restaurant and tavern. There were fifteen entries but the contract was eventually awarded to Thomas Verity (1837 – 1891) and he promptly founded his own architectural practice which still trades today under the name Verity and Beverley.

  Criterion Theatre entrance (2008)

  Piccadilly Circus 1902 – The Criterion is to the right but out of shot

  Building began in 1871 and was completed two years later. The restaurant and bar opened in November 1873 and the accompanying theatre in March 1874. The play with which it opened had its debut performance on March 21st and was entitled An American Lady. According to the New York Times the performance was not without incident. The play had been booked out long in advance and the pit area was overcrowded to such an extent that the resulting discomfort suffered by the audience led to angry scenes and the curtain came down very soon after it had first risen without anyone uttering a line. Order was eventually restored and the leading lady was presented with a great many bouquets at the end of the performance.

  The Criterion Bar is where Watson sets his first foot on the path to meeting Sherlock Holmes. As described in A Study in Scarlet, it is here that Watson bumps into Stamford who was a former dresser (or junior doctor) under him at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. During a subsequent lunch together at the Holborn restaurant Holmes’s name is discussed (see later) and they later travel to the hospital to meet him. The rest, as they say, is history.

  According to several sources A Study in Scarlet, published in December 1887, is set in 188113. This is interesting as it means that the most famous landmark in the immediate area would not have been present at the time the events of the story took place or the date when it was published. Namely this is the statue outside the Criterion, often referred to as The Angel of Christian Charity but generally known as Eros, which was erected in 1893.

  The entrance to the Criterion Restaurant (2008) – the entrance to the theatre is the other side of Lillywhites which can be just seen on the right. Note that the opening date is shown as 1874 which is at odds with the Criterion official website.

  10 Source: The Empty House.

  11 According to the BBC the Café Royal was the site of the only cordial meeting between Oscar Wilde and the Marquess of Queensbury before the latter accused Wilde of being a homosexual. It was Wilde’s decision to launch a libel prosecution that ultimately led to his own trial and conviction.

  12 Source: Criterion Theatre Website

  13 A Sherlock Holmes Commentary by D. Martin Dakin and The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Leslie Klinger both agree on this date.

  Pall Mall

  Pall Mall c1910 looking towards Trafalgar Square – The Reform Club is the second building from the right

  Pall Mall is the area of London in which you find a great number of the private members clubs that have historically been frequented by nobility and politicians. One of the most notable was the Carlton Club14, arguably a second home of the Conservative Party, which was founded in 1832 and relocated to Pall Mall in 1835. It remained there until the building was destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War.

  The Reform Club can be seen on the left of this picture, immediately behind the van (2008)

  Despite the departure of the Carlton Club a large number of other clubs still call the area home. Conan Doyle was himself a member of three of the clubs in Pall Mall. The first was the Reform Club15 of which Conan Doyle was a member from June 1892. The second was the Athenaeum of which he became a member in March 190116. Finally, the third was the Royal Automobile Club, founded in 1897, which opened for business in Pall Mall in March 1911 having relocated from Piccadilly. Conan Doyle became a member in 190317 soon after buying his first car.

  The Athenaeum Club at 107 Pall Mall (2006)

  The Athenaeum is of particular interest as it was a club that had been specifically set up in 1824 with the idea of having scientific, artistic and literary minds amongst its members. It cannot have been lost on Conan Doyle when he was elected a member that his great literary hero Sir Walter Scott had also been a member. Conan Doyle’s famous contemporary fellow members included Winston Churchill, Rudyard Kipling and Cecil Rhodes who died one year after Conan Doyle was elected.

  Turning to the Holmes connection, it was also on Pall Mall that the Diogenes Club, co-founded by Mycroft Holmes, was based. In The Greek Interpreter Holmes first speaks to Watson about his brother and explains that Mycroft lives in Pall Mall opposite the club which he helped to found. Mycroft’s connection to Pall Mall is also mentioned in the stories The Bruce-Partington Plans and The Final Problem. These are not the only connections however. Watson travels to a letting Agent in Pall Mall during The Solitary Cyclist in an attempt to gain information about the tenant of Charlington Hall. Finally, in The Abbey Grange, Holmes and Watson visit the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton Line, at the end of Pall Mall, in order to obtain information about Captain Crocker.

  Mycroft Holmes co-founder of the Diogenes Club from The Greek Interpreter

  Although Conan Doyle himself never stated it the suggestion has been made by many that the Diogenes Club was little more than a front for the British Secret Service with Mycroft as its head. This inference is largely drawn from The Bruce-Partington Plans where Mycroft is responsible for involving Holmes in the case which concerns ‘…the most jealously guarded of all government secrets.’

  However such a lofty position seems unlikely when you bear in mind Holmes’s description of his own brother in the same story as a man who remains a subordinate and has no ambitions of any kind.

  An etching of Raeburn’s portrait of Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832) literary great and one time member of the Athenaeum

  14 Sir James Damery from The Illustrious Client was a member of the Carlton Club.

  15 Source: Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lycett.

  16 As above.

  17 Source: Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lycett.

  Northumberland Avenue and its hotel mysteries

  Northumberland Avenue and the surrounding area are mentioned in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories. In The Illustrious Client we learn that Holmes and Watson frequented a Turkish Bath situated near the avenue (close to the present day Sherlock Holmes public house) and the avenue is also mentioned in regards to its many hotels.

  One of the references to a hotel on Northumberland Avenue occurs in The Noble Bachelor. I
n this story, Holmes is able to get on the track of his quarry, Francis Moulton, by using the semi-complete details of a bill (obtained from Inspector Lestrade) to locate his hotel. This hotel, he tells Watson, was on Northumberland Avenue.

  The decision on Conan Doyle’s part to conceal the identity of the hotel is interesting as he had been perfectly willing to identify the Langham Hotel in A Scandal in Bohemia (mentioned earlier) which was published the previous year and before that in The Sign of Four (published in 1890). He would later go on to mention the Langham again in the 1911 adventure The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax and the Charing Cross Hotel in The Bruce-Partington Plans (1908). So why was he disinclined to be specific with the hotels on Northumberland Avenue?

  In the case of The Noble Bachelor the answer may well lie in the fact that Conan Doyle actually stated the prices being charged by the hotel. When Holmes explains to Watson how he had determined that the hotel was on the avenue from the bill he adds that ‘there are not many in London which charge at that rate’. He quotes the price as being eight shillings for a bed and eight pence for a glass of sherry18. Conan Doyle was well known for not always concerning himself with details and it is quite possible that he came up with these prices based on general hotel experience and not from actually checking them at the hotel in question. Therefore he may have concealed the identity of the hotel in order to avoid being picked up on his potentially inaccurate pricing by the hotel’s management.